billycopper
Player Valuation: £40m
http://www.theguardian.com/football...ilosophy-brendan-rodgers-premier-league-title
It's a fairly well-balanced piece on the job Rodgers has done but I guess a few questions still remain:
It's a fairly well-balanced piece on the job Rodgers has done but I guess a few questions still remain:
- Suarez is arguably the best striker in the world at the moment. How much of that can be attributed to Brendan? If the Uruguayan is just playing his natural game then it would be very difficult not to be near the top of the league with the amount of goals and assists that he's contributed.
- Has Rodgers brought the best out of Sturridge? His talent was plain to see but he didn't fit the lone-striker role that Chelsea employ. Fair enough that the manager has found a system that plays to the strengths of both his strikers, rather than sticking to the popular 4-2-3-1, where Sturridge would have found himself out on the flank a lot more.
- Flanagan was very impressive in the Goodison derby. Enrique has been injured, Sakho looked like a liability and Cissokho has offered very little though, so has it been his only option?
- They do have a small squad but, even with their injury problems, they have rarely had to use fringe players such as Aspas, Moses, Alberto, Kelly and Ilori.
- Skrtel is their most dependable centre back? He's still managed 3 own goals this season and Spurs are the only side in the top 7 to have conceded more than them.
- I admit that playing Gerrard in the 'quarterback' position has been a masterstroke. It looks a bit imbalanced to me though to have Henderson/Allen on one side and Sterling on the other though. And it seems a bit illogical for Allen to be fluffing golden opportunities while the more composed Gerrard is guarding the shop.
- Are they the mutt's nuts? Poyet has said today that Liverpool would be midtable without Suarez. I don't think that's quite true because Gerrard has been one of the top assist-providers in the league and I'd expect Sturridge to finish enough of those chances.
- How do they take it from here though? They're going to need more players for CL football and promising youngsters won't cut it, but they will have money to spend. Maybe, with Brendan's tinkering, that will disrupt their tight group?
- City and Chelsea have managed to keep a muzzle on them and I think other teams will figure it out too. If you sit on Gerrard it becomes very difficult for them to get the ball from back to front so quickly and it makes it easier to swamp them. He'll be 34 by the end of the season though and another serious injury could really take it's toll. He's weighed in with 10 league goals too this season and he'll be a big miss when his powers do start to fade.
- How long will Suarez stick around too? He'll probably give it another year to see how they get on in Europe but he'll be 28 by the end of next season and his dreams of a move to a Superpower will be waning.
